Libraries FAQ 2.1
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1107
Anthony Wilson
paw@iglou.com
Libraries FAQ Section 7.0 Culture
7.1 How did the "Marian the Librarian" stereotype start?
7.2 What happens when downtown New York's fiercest ruling party girl
finds herself down and out working in a public library?
7.3 Can a werewolf be a librarian? Can she be happy?
7.4 Where can I find a list of sources of librarians in film?
7.5 Where can I find the lyrics for songs with libraries in them?
7.6 Who's the patron saint of librarians?
7.7 How many librarians does it take to change a light bulb?
7.8 Where can I get a list of sources of librarian images in comics?
7.9 Are there sci-fi stories where librarians have a prominent role?
7.10 Are there mystery novels where librarians have a prominent role?
7.11 What librarian is charged with helping Buffy the Vampire Slayer
fight gouls, zombies, and other creatures of the night?
7.1 How did the "Marian the Librarian" stereotype start?
The following comes from Grimes, Deborah J. "Marion the Librarian -
The Truth Behind the Image" in Scherdin, Mary Jane (ed.) _Discovering
Librarians: Profiles of a Profession_ (Chicago: ACRL, 1994), pg. 3:
"In 1950, Meredith Wilson wrote a musical entitled _The Music Man, in
which the lead female character is Marian Paroo, a small town
librarian and music teacher. The character is a self-proclaimed
spinster, who must continually resist the exhortations of everyone
around her, including the mother with whom she lives, to "find a man".
Marian is characterized as picky, hardworking, standoffish, bookish,
and, by most accounts, pitiable. The phrase, "Marian the Librarian",
was coined, along with the image, in a song in The Music Man. Over
forty years later, the image continues to permeate public opinion and
remain the stereotype of the professional librarian."
7.2 What happens when downtown New York's fiercest ruling party girl
finds herself down and out working in a public library?
PARTY GIRL
From First Look Pictures:
"Armed with a quick wit and begged or borrowed Gaultier, Mary (Parker
Posey) struggles to pay the rent. As a hostess extraordinare Mary
packs 300 of her closest friends into her Chinatown loft for a rent
party. When her roommate, Derrick (Anthony DeSando ), splits with half
the rent, and DJ Leo (Guillermo Diaz)threatens to walk out if Mary
doesn't give him a place to stay, Mary throws open her doors to the
NYPD and ends up in jail. Desperate, she calls her godmother, Mrs.
Lindendorf (Shasha von Scherler ), who bails her out but insists. Mary
take a responsible job - as a librarian! So despite her phobia of the
Dewey Decimal System, Mary becomes a 9-5er.
"Mary's having an identity crisis. Torn between the high-drama,
high-fashioned world of nightclubs and DJs and a steady paycheck as a
librarian, she's not sure if she should grow up and settle down with
Mustafa (Omar Townsend), the handsome Lebanese neighborhood falafel
vendor, or join the ranks of Rene, the aging, strung out diva of New
York's club scene. Or should she just curl up in a fetal position and
couch potato the '90's out?
"Daisy von Scherler Mayer makes her directorial debut with PARTY GIRL
having co-written the screenplay with Harry Birckmayer who produced
the film with Stephanie Koules. Starring Parker Posey (SLEEP WITH ME,
DAZED AND CONFUSED), the supporting cast includes Sasha von Scherler,
Omar Townsend, Anthony DeSando (FEDERAL HILL, Under Suspicion), Donna
Mitchell (LESS THAN ZERO, THE ROOKIE), and Guillermo Diaz (FRESH,
CROSSING THE STICKS."
Party Girl was also a FOX Network sitcom (Mondays at 9 EST.)
"Monkeys have died trying to learn the Dewey Decimal system."
7.3 Can a werewolf be a librarian? Can she be happy?
Yes; maybe. "Wilderness"", a UK TV series, features a sex-mad academic
librarian werewolf type ("Oh dear, I'm going to turn into a wolf") who
declares "academic libraries are sexy"".
Male academic type: "I've seen you around, do you work here?"
Werewolf librarian, pouting, : "I'm JUST the librarian.."
7.4 Where can I find a list of sources of librarians in film?
-Martin Raish's LIBRARIANS IN THE MOVIES An Annotated Filmography
(includes a bibliography of articles on librarians in film,
http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/subjects/liblit/introduction.html
-Shoji Ichimura's Librarians in Films database,
http://www.bekkoame.or.jp/~ichimura/libmvdb/libmvdbE.htm, and
-"Librarians on Stage and Screen" by Frederick Duda in the Whole
Library Handbook 2 (see 9.1 below):
http://www.ala.org/editions/wlh/movies.html
7.5 Where can I find the lyrics for songs with libraries in them?
The DRA Librarian's Library,
http://www.dra.com/resources/library/playitsam.htm, has the lyrics to
songs about libraries.
Yahoo lists a large number of lyric pages, many with searchable
databases:
http://www.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Composition/Lyrics_and_Notation/Lyrics/
A great site is The Mudcat Cafe Digital Tradition Folk Song Database,
http://www.mudcat.org/folksearch.html which contains the words and
music to thousands of folk songs, including:
THE BOLD LIBRARIAN
(Joy Rutherford)
http://www.mudcat.org/!!-song99.cfm?stuff=Spring98+D+1433884
"He's the bold librarian.
Now, this librarian, he rode out all in the dewy morn,
Come in my bold librarian, and I'll mek thee a pot of tea."
From the unofficial web site of the former FOX and now Sci-Fi channel
TV show Sliders: http://www.brillig.com/sliders/earth-prime.shtml
"Library Rap"
Yo Homes, what's up?
What up with you?
Whatcha' gonna say?
Whatcha' gonna do?
Where you gonna go?
What we gonna see?
We're goin' to the li-bra-ree.
I'm moving down the aisle with my Homeys in tow
We're grovin' through the home of the librarian Ho
She checks us out from behind thick glasses
We walk right past and we wiggle our asses
Hemingway... Lawrence... Checkhov and Miller
Fitzgerald was a freak, Mailer is a killer...
Quiet pleeease!
Quiet pleeease!
The silence is golden
To books I am beholden
I know I'm bad
'Cuz of the knowledge that I'm holdin'
And I give you one warnin'
There will be no repeats
Get out of my face
While I'm readin' my Keats
"Library Rap" performed by MC Poindexter & The Study Crew
7.6 Who's the patron saint of librarians?
It's St. Jerome, born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia
and Pannonia, about the year 340-2. He died in Bethlehem, September,
30 420. Pope Damasus had selected Jerome to make a new Latin
translation of the Greek New Testament. Jerome later expanded his
assignment to include the Old Testament, which he translated from the
Hebrew.
For online biographical information (and portraits):
Catholic Encyclopedia http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/08341a.htm
Saint Jerome's House http://members.aol.com/DWFrancis/sjh.html
7.7 How many librarians does it take to change a light bulb?
Four. One to install the bulb and three to test it in staff mode for
three months before the patrons get to use the light.
Ok, I know it's bad, but the New Jersey State Library
http://www.state.nj.us/statelibrary/lbhumtoc.htm , invites you to
visit and submit your own library jokes.
For more laughs, take a look at IFLANET Library Humour,
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/I/humour/humour.htm
IFLANET also has an interesting collection of library quotes:
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/ifla/I/humour/subj.htm
Do you want to know more about strange patrons, strange things found
in books, and strange smells in the stacks? See Hypatia's Humorous
Library Tales, by Jenny "the Circ Girl",
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/2776/
"If you had any idea what was going on in the minds of the seemingly
normal people around you all day, you'd run for your life."
7.8 Where can I get a list of sources of librarian images in comics?
For information about Batgirl and Mrs. McGreevey see Steve Bergson's
Librarians in Comics: Sources on the Libraries FAQ Homepage.
7.9 Are there sci-fi novels where librarians have a prominent role?
Most of this information comes from a thread on soc.libraries.talk
regarding librarians and libraries in sci-fi. I'd like to add more
information, i.e. plot lines, characters, etc., so please feel free to
send me information on these or other books that feature librarians.
Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, features a librarian as a main
character and depicts future worlds where whole civilizations live or
die by their connectivity to "the net" (internet). Her job is to
interpret the many layers of indexing that have evolved, and find the
meaningful information that's buried there. (Description supplied by
Sue Visser.)
Eon
by Greg Bear
Against the Fall of Night, and
Rama Revealed
both by Arthur Clarke
Counterclock World
by Philip K. Dick
Deathworld 3
by Harry Harrison
Direct Descent
by Frank Herbert
Restoree
by Ann McCaffrey
Protector, and
Ringworld Engineers
both by Larry Niven
1984 (Smith works in the Library of the Ministry of Truth)
by George Orwell
Gray Lensman,
Children of the Lens, and
Second-Stage Lensmen
all by Doc Smith
A Plague of Angels, and
Shadow's End
both by Sherri Tepper
7.10 Are there mystery novels where librarians have a prominent role?
Yes, and the best source of information is Marsha McCurley's
Bibliomysteries page,
http://www.carol.net/dolphin/bibliomysteries/index.htm . Besides an
extensive bibliography, McCurley includes lists of librarian
detectives, staff victims, reference works, links to other listings,
and a collection of quotes:
"...People just don't get murdered in public libraries. It's not
done." -- Police Chief, in Murder in a Library by Charles J. Dutton
7.11 What librarian is charged with helping Buffy the Vampire Slayer
fight gouls, zombies, and other creatures of the night?
Rubert Giles, a California high school librarian is "The Watcher",
the one chosen to identify and guide the single person per generation
who can slay vampires with impunity. He is Buffy's mentor, trainer,
and researcher. See, Christopher Brown-Syed's Cool Librarians of Fact
and Fiction page, http://www.lisp.wayne.edu/waycool.html .
The following quotes from Buffy The Vampire Slayer are courtesy of
Elisabeth Anne Riba, lis@netcom.com :
Willow: Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the
library?
Buffy: Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that
place just kinda gives me the wiggins.
Willow: Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's
a
great collection, and the new librarian is really cool.
Buffy: He's new?
Willow: Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British
museum,
or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and
he
brought all these historical volumes and biographies and am I the
single
dullest person alive?
Buffy: Not at all.
------------------------------------------------------------
Owen comes into the library and approaches them.
Buffy: Oh! (slides off the table) Owen! Hi!
Giles: (looks up at Owen) What do you want?
Owen: A book?
Giles: Oh!
Buffy: (to Giles) See, this is a school, and we have students, and
they
check out books, and then they learn things.
Giles: I was beginning to suspect that was a myth.
------------------------------------------------------------
Willow: Xander, we should go with Giles! He could get in trouble!
Xander: Oh, he's gone, uh, it's, he's gonna be alright. He's like
super
librarian, y'know? Everyone forgets, Willow, that knowledge is the
ultimate weapon.
------------------------------------------------------------
Giles: Mm. He thought it would behoove me to have more contact with
the
students. I did try to explain that my vocational choice of librarian
was a deliberate attempt to (draws a breath) minimize said contact,
but,
uh, he would have none of it.
------------------------------------------------------------
Ms. Calendar: Hmm. (to Buffy and Xander) You're here again? Kids
really
dig the library, don't cha?
Buffy: We're literary!
Xander: To read makes our speaking English good.
Buffy: We'll be going now. (grabs Xander and turns to leave)
Giles: Uh, w-we'll, uh, continue this conversation at another time.
Buffy: I think we're done. (they leave) (to Xander) Makes our
speaking
English is good?
Xander: I panicked, okay?

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